Hundreds of tribal residents of the Raja Padav region at Mainpur blocked National Highway 130C once again on Wednesday, claiming that over 20 villages in the region are left powerless. More than 2000 men and women who lived in 30 villages in eight gram panchayats participated in the protest which brought traffic on the busy highway to a halt and created long lines of vehicles in either side of the road.
The villages that are affected are in the core zone of Udanti Sitanadi Wildlife Sanctuary where in the past permission had been given to underground electrification. Nevertheless, regardless of the clearance, these villages are yet to receive electricity. In this respect, the District Panchayat member Sanjay Netam said that even though the underground power project was approved, the project could not start because of no budgetary allocation.
It is the fourth instance of a highway blockade in the last one year when villagers of the Raja Padav region of Mainpur block have demanded electrification. Protest leaders, such as the president of the Ambedkarwadi Samiti, Patang Netam, and the District Panchayat member, Sanjay Netam, made clear that the Raja Padav region is a notified Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule to the Indian Constitution according to which the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA Act) is relevant. Article 244 (1), Fifth Schedule and the PESA Act provide tribal communities living here to special constitutional protections and rights.
The representatives claimed that of the eight gram panchayats of the area, three, namely Adgadi, Shobha and Gona, are partially electrified. The other five panchayats (Bhootbeda, Kuchenga, Kokdi, Garhadih, and Gaurgaon) have been left in darkness even 78 years after the independence of India. They referred to the situation as the infringement of basic rights, the right to equality (Article 14), the right to life with dignity (Article 21), the right to education (Article 21A), and the provisions of social justice contained in Articles 38 and 39.
The protesters claimed that electricity could not be a luxury but a necessity that is associated with education, health, safety of women, irrigation, livelihood and access to information. Offended residents declared that they are going to present a memorandum to the Governor requesting an urgent action that will restore and complete the work on electrification that was interrupted after 2023 without any obvious administrative or legislative decree.
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